Errors in the Harry Potter books
The '''errors in the Harry Potter books '''will be noted on this page, from one chapter to the next one with a mistake. It will not include mistakes that have since been amended, and it will not include mentions of things happening on the wrong day of the week for that year, because the majority of the dates in the books was found to be wrong. Philosopher's Stone The Boy Who Lived * Voldemort was defeated on the night of 31 October 1981. The next day, the wizarding world celebrated and that evening, near midnight, Harry Potter was brought to Privet Drive by Rubeus Hagrid. However, Hagrid says he only just picked Harry up from the ruins of Godric's Hollow in time to keep the Muggle neighbours arrived. An entire day is missing for Hagrid and Harry. * Dumbledore says he travelled through twelve parties on the way to Privet Drive, but then he just Apparates when he leaves Privet Drive. It's unknown why Dumbledore never just Apparated to Privet Drive in the first place. ** He might be worried about Death Eaters now on the run following him to Privet Drive, and thought the best thing to do was shake them off was by going from place to place. ** Dumbledore passed the time by joining a few celebration parties, but why twelve? The Vanishing Glass * The Boa constrictor at the zoo that Harry spoke to had winked at him, but snakes do not have eyelids meaning it's impossible for them to wink. The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters * Petunia Dursley was said to look surprised with Vernon and Dudley Dursley when she found out Harry needed to be at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters because it shouldn't be an actual place. But Petunia should know it is an actual place because she went with Lily once in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows unless she was feigning her lack of knowledge. The Midnight Duel * It was said that the Gryffindor Quidditch team had failed to win a championship "since Charlie left". That would imply that Charlie had graduated two years earlier in order for a year to pass since he left in which Gryffindor never won. But Charlie only graduated about two months ago so "since Charlie left" was an odd way to put it. The book should have said they had failed to win "for a few years" and that was "when Charlie was Seeker". Hallowe'en * It made no sense why the Headteacher would send the students back to their common room when he found out a troll was in school. The whole school was in the Great Hall and it would be safer for them to stay and have the teachers doing a roll-call instead of them wandering around. And, he was told that the troll was in the dungeons which was the exact location of the Slytherin common room, which meant the Slytherins would be sent to the same exact place of troll and be put in danger. Chamber of Secrets Cover * The original Bloomsbury cover of the book portrays Hedwig as a barn owl, but Hedwig was a snowy owl. Dobby's Warning * Petunia should have known that underage witches and wizards should not be using magic when away from school because the law saying so was written in 1875, and Petunia had a sister (Lily) who went to the school for seven years from 1971-1978. The Writing on the Wall * Hermione says Myrtle Warren's bathroom was on the first floor but when Harry found the writing on the wall right next to it, he was on the second floor. It's also unknown why Myrtle would never have noticed Ginny in the room, or the pipe door opening or the Basilisk at any point in the school year. The Duelling Club * Whenever anyone speaks Parseltongue, the people who cannot speak it will hear hissing instead. However, whenever Harry hears the Basilisk loud enough to make out what it's saying, Gilderoy Lockhart, Hermione and Ron never hear any hissing and neither does anyone else in the school ever. Cornelius Fudge * When Harry was at the Quidditch pitch with the majority of the whole school, the teachers tell them another student was petrified by the Basilisk and they needed to head back to their common rooms for their own safety, while the teachers checked the school was now safe. But it made better sense to keep the majority of the school at the pitch while they checked the school, because the Basilisk cannot get to them. By sending them back to the school, they would be in higher danger until they made it to the common room. Prisoner of Azkaban Aunt Marge's Big Mistake * The bond of blood protecting a person will be broken when they leave the home of the person who willingly took them in, with no intention of ever coming back. Harry left Privet Drive with no intention of going back and would not in fact ever have the intention of going back until June the next year (and even then he held out hope of going to live with Sirius Black). Technically the bond of blood should have broken that summer when he left. The Leaky Cauldron * One minute, Harry was being served by the manager at Flourish and Blotts but then with no explanation, he's suddenly being served by the assistant. But it was the manager who had climbed up one second ago to get the book he needed, and not the assistant who climbed down. The Dementor * Harry, Ron and Hermiome found an empty compartment to put their luggage in, which they promptly do. But then a few moments later having said goodbye to their family, they went looking for an empty compartment, which they found at the end of the train, but they had only found an empty one moments ago. It would have made better sense for them to be going back to the empty compartment instead of looking for one. Then suddenly, it's the same compartment anyway because Harry went to get a sneakoscope out of the luggage. Cat, Rat and Dog * Ron collapsed onto a bed but when Professor Lupin enters the room, Ron was now on the floor and Crookshanks on the bed. The only explanation was that Ron was edging closer to Harry in order to protect him from Sirius Black, and moments later he was trying to cling on to Harry, but the book does not imply that Ron was moving and edging closer to Harry. The Servant of Lord Voldemort * It's unknown how the Fidelius Charm actually worked, but it was Dumbledore who performed the spell for James and Lily Potter. He should of perhaps known then, that he made Peter the Secret Keeper and not Sirius, and that Sirius was innocent and he could have advocated for him. Owl Post Again * Fred and George Weasley found out how they done on their O.W.L. exams in June, by the time they left to go home for the summer. However, it's later found in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, that people do not find out their O.W.L. grades until August, unless they changed the way they it worked by then. Fourth book The Riddle House * In the American version, Barty Crouch Jnr., Peter and Voldemort speak of one final death (a murder) that needed to be carried out in order to clear the "path to Harry Potter", and yet the books never mention another planned murder ever taking place, meaning it made no sense ever. Bertha Jorkins was killed by then and Frank Bryce was only killed because he accidentally found them (they had no idea that would happen), they had no intention of killing Barty Crouch Snr. until he escaped their control and Cedric Diggory was another unintended obstacle in the same way of Frank. The Scar * Harry was said to have found he had a godfather, Sirius only two months ago (meaning June). But he actually found out about nine months ago in December. It should have said that he found out Sirius was innocent two months ago. The page also says he found out about Peter being guilty last year, but again it was only two months ago, unless Harry meant the last school year. * Dudley Dursley owned a playstation by the summer of 1994, but the playstation wouldn't be out until December 1994 in Japan and it wouldn't be available in Europe until September 1995 unless Vernon and Petunia managed to buy him a prototype, which was very unlikely because they made them for game designers, and anyone purchasing one from them would probably need to be very rich. Back to the Burrow * Mr Weasley used a pinch of Floo Powder in order for the whole group of five to head back to the Burrow, and it stayed open for long enough for each of them to simply jump in. However, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, it was established that each person needed to put their own pinch down, say the name of the location they want and it would only open the path for that one person, unless Floo Powder was unmentioned to have improved in that time. * The Ministry of Magic do not know which witch or wizard performs a spell, only the location the spell was performed, and from that they deduced who the witch or wizard was and from that their age and whether muggles may of saw it. Mr Weasley used magic in front of the Dursley family, but unless the Ministry knew he was going, it would have looked as though it was Harry and he would have been sent a letter telling him off for being underage. ** But even if they knew Mr Weasley was going, they would have known Privet Drive had no access for people travelling by Floo Powder. Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes * According to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, magic cannot make food, but Mrs Weasley used her wand to make a sauce, with no mention of her summoning the sauce from an object of any kind. Bagman and Crouch * Fred and George Weasley made a bet with Ludo Bagman and put the paper with their wages on, in a pocket in their robes, but they had to wear Muggle clothing and should not be wearing any robes, unless they broke the law. * Bill, Percy and Charlie apparated to the Weasley tent, but everyone else had to find it on a map and wander around until they found it. Bill, Percy and Charlie either managed to be very lucky by picking the exact right place to apparate, or they looked at another map of their location and then apparated to the right place. The Quidditch World Cup * The Quidditch World Cup happened every four years since it's invention in 1473, but the World Cup in 1994 was the 422nd one. It's only 521 years since 1437 making it impossible (given the four year gap) for 422 World Cups to have happened every four years in that time. Mayhem at the Ministry * Ron's room was above the attic door, but that implies that Ron's room was in the attic. However, in the second book it was one floor above Ron's room. The Four Champions * Harry was said to be facing champions who had 3 years of magical education than he had, but Cedric only had an extra 2 years of magical education than him. The Madness of Mr Crouch * Barty Crouch Snr. says that Barty Crouch Jnr. achieved twelve O.W.L. grades but even Hermione only managed to take twelve subjects in the third year with the help of the Time-turner and even then it was unachieveable. In order to manage that for another two years would be near impossible. However, Barty was very confused at the time and was probably wrong. Priori Incantatem * Priori Incantatem was meant to echo the spells the wand had performed lately in order from the newer one to last one. However, it showed Bertha Jorkins and then Lily Potter without any indication of the spell Voldemort broke Bertha's Memory Charm with and the one he made the Horcrux of Hufflepuff's Cup with. Order of the Phoenix A Peck of Owls * Because of the underage magic rule, the Ministry of Magic would know when magic was used in Harry's location of 4 Privet Drive because of the Trace. If anyone used magic at Privet Drive, they would know about it and assume it was Harry because they have no way of knowing who actually performed the magic, but the Ministry never made any mention of it. **The whole point of the Order of the Phoenix collecting Harry by broomstick and not Floo Powder was because it would let the Ministry know and they needed to avoid that, but then Tonks and Moody both used magic even though Harry was in trouble for using the Patronus Charm earlier which meant the Ministry would in fact know about it. They would have brought it up at the meeting for the Patronus Charm incident if they had not sent a letter, and Fudge was intent on punishing Harry and it would have helped him make a case - Fudge certainly would have brought it up. The Hearing * Cornelius Fudge says the incident with Marjorie Dursley happened 3 years ago, but it was in fact 2 years ago. * When the judges of the Ministry of Magic made the final judgement on Harry for underage magic, Harry was called "the witness", but he should in fact be "the accused". The Woes of Mrs Weasley * Harry says Lupin was sacked from being the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, but he actually willingly gave up the job unless Harry considers it a sacking because people wanted him to leave and made him feel he had to give it up. * Mad-Eye Moody was able to know that a desk contained a Boggart without even looking in the desk. It was later said that he was the only person to ever see a Boggart in it's true form, but it's impossible unless Moody's fake eye had a special power, but if it was that simple to view it in it's true form then it shouldn't be a big deal - lots of people would be able to. In the Hog's Head * Dennis managed to attend the meeting at the Hog's Head even though he was only in the second year, and should not be allowed in Hogsmeade. The passageway Harry once used was now guarded and Dennis would have no knowledge of them anyway. He could only have went unless he snuck out and took the normal path unnoticed, perhaps with help. Dumbledore's Army * Cho Chang says she and Harry's first match of Quidditch with each other was "in the third year", but it only happened in Harry's third year because Cho was in the year above him. It was an odd way to put it - Cho should have said in ''your ''third year. Half-Blood Prince The Half-Blood Prince * Katie Bell tells Harry he shouldn't pick the same old faces at the trials for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but every single year since Harry began, the same old faces would be picked without any known objection or mention of wrongdoing, with Angelina Johnson being the first to hold trials a year ago only for the places than needed new players, since the old ones left. ** The only explanations would be that Katie thought it was a wrong approach anyway, she wanted new players or Harry had no knowledge of any objections because he was not Captain yet and he was left out of the loop. The Secret Riddle * Tom Riddle's room was described as only having a bed and wardrobe, but then Albus draws up a chair with no mention of magic being used which would have amazed Tom. After the Burial * It was said that Voldemort wouldn't wear the Gaunt ring when he made it a Horcrux, but he was wearing the ring in Slughorn's memory when he asked about making Horcruxes. He had killed the Riddle family by then and made it a Horcrux, which means he shouldn't be wearing the ring and he shouldn't be asking how to make a Horcrux because he knew how to make the ring one. The White Tomb * Rufus Scrimgeour says one of the Death Eaters was defeated with the Stunning Spell but he was defeated with the Full Body-Bind Curse by Harry. Deathly Hallows In Memorium * Harry says on 27 July that he will be unable to use magic for another four days because of the Trace and underage magic law. But then later that day in chapter four, he used magic to hold up the side-car he was in when it separated from a bike. Then, in the sixth chapter, he says again that the Trace would be broken in four days when days have passed since the Battle of Little Whinging on 27 July (implying two days at least passed), meaning he had only one day until then. Seven Potters * The Ministry of Magic only placed limitations on the use of Floo Powder, Apparition and Portkey on 4 Privet Drive meaning out of that boundary, they could have used any one of them to get Harry to the Burrow, which would be a lot easier than the elaborate plan Moody invented of making seven people look like Harry and then flying to the Burrow making the whole plan very unnecessary. They could have taken Harry out of the boundary and simply apparated him to the Burrow (a skills that Harry in fact had gained by then). Xenophilius Lovegood * When they arrived at the Lovegood house, Harry gave Hermione the Cloak of Invisibility and she put it in her bag. However, when they have to run away from Death Eaters, she tells Harry to give her the cloak even though he technically gave it her earlier. He simply hands it to her as if he never gave it to her. Shell Cottage * Shell Cottage had the Fidelius Charm placed on it and Bill Weasley was the Secret Keeper and yet Ron was able to tell Dobby the location of the cottage. Technically Ron (whether he knew about it or not) would not be able to tell anyone the location even if he wanted to. The Final Hiding Place * Harry puts dittany on a wound in the hole of the pants he was wearing, but he had put other pants on by then which should not have a hole in it. * In a memory, Petunia tugged her hand out of Lily's grasp but then moments later (as if that never happened), the same thing happened again with no implication that because Lily grabbed her hand again. Notes and sources Category:Miscellaneous